Which to use
“démence” is a noun and “dénonce” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,183
- “démence” frequency rank
- #4,419
- “dénonce” frequency rank
- 22602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démence | dénonce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aliénation mentale chronique, acquise et évolutive, dont l'étiologie est diverse. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dénoncer. |
Where the eye mixes démence and dénonce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. démence and dénonce follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: démence vs dénonce
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démence is \de.mɑ̃s\ while dénonce is \de.nɔ̃s\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
démence is recorded at frequency rank #18,183, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.mɑ̃s\. dénonce is at rank #4,419, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.nɔ̃s\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 22602, this pair ranks #357,105 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of démence vs dénonce
Shared letters: cdené. Private to "démence": m. Private to "dénonce": o.
"démence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dénonce" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "démence" for "dénonce" ever safe?
Which is more common, "démence" or "dénonce"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "démence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dénonce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,105 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démence" and "dénonce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démange vs démence". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #357,105 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.